History’s most essential lesson, in my opinion, is this: the road to atrocities is paved with silence. When looking back at the fascist takeover of Germany in the 1930’s, many of us wonder how an entire population allowed the persecution of millions to unfold before their eyes. How did they let their hatred solidify, their discrimination normalize, and their morals perish? 

Yet here we are, watching history repeat itself in America, blind to our hypocrisy. The growing division in our country is turning into something far more dangerous—an escalating hatred toward immigrants fueled by fear, ignorance, and political scapegoating. Executive orders have been set into place to mass deport millions of immigrants, tearing families apart and paving the way for discrimination and dehumanization that is disgustingly similar to a dark past. If we fail to recognize these warning signs, we risk becoming the very thing that America has always stood against. 

The steps toward dehumanization always follow an extremely predictable pattern. It starts with stereotypes—prejudices whispered between neighbors, disguised as concern, justified by misinformation. The German citizens blamed Jewish people for their economic struggles, much like we see immigrants in America being scapegoated for job losses, crime, and economic instability—problems that, in reality, come from corporate greed, wage stagnation, and systemic discrimination. What started as exclusionary laws in Nazi Germany resulted in the forced deportation of Jewish families, destroying their lives under the cover of “national security.” In the upcoming months, we will see the biggest mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in US history, families torn apart at the border, and detention centers with a gross resemblance to internment camps. The final step in history’s pattern of dehumanization was the Nazi government’s decision to stop deporting Jews and instead keep them in concentration camps for forced labor and eventually, extermination. Are we willing to ignore the past and let history take its course again?

The psychology behind this behavior of nation-wide bystanding is also well-documented. The Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Obedience Study both demonstrated the horrifying ease with which normal people conform to cruelty when they believe they are simply following orders or blending into the crowd. The bystander effect explains how individuals remain passive in the face of evil when they assume someone else will take action. 

The truth is, silence is complicity. The more we allow hateful rhetoric to grow unchecked, the more desensitized we become to injustice. If we wait for someone else to stand up, it’ll be too late. 

But we’re not powerless. We must confront racism wherever it appears—at our dinner tables, workplaces, social media, or in our politics. If we recognize stereotypes for what they are—tools of division—we can end the cycle before it’s too late. Regardless of political affiliation, we must all acknowledge the basic moral fact that no human deserves to be dehumanized. Standing up to discrimination is not a question of left or right, but of right or wrong. 

This is our moment to prove that we have learned from history. We cannot allow fear and division to drive us down the same dark path that led to one of humanity’s greatest tragedies. Immigrants are not the cause of America’s struggles—corporate greed and systemic inequality are. Blaming those who seek a better life does nothing but repeat the sins of the past. If we continue down this road, we are no better than the German people who stood by and watched their neighbors disappear. The time to stand up to hate is now. Silence is not an option.